This document may contain confidential information that is the property of theNHLS

and theClient.

1.2

No part of the contents may be used, copied, disclosed or conveyed in whole or inpart to any party in any manner whatsoever other than forpreparing aproposalinresponse to this Bid,without prior written permission fromNHLS

and theClient.

1.3

All copyright and Intellectual Property herein vests withNHLS

and itsClient.

2

Introduction

2.1

Based onthe Bids submitted andtheoutcome of the evaluation processaccording to

the set evaluation criteria,NHLS

intends to select a preferredbidder

withthe

viewof

concluding a service level agreement (SLA) with suchsuccessfulbidder. The Bidshall

be evaluated in terms of thePreferentialProcurement Policy Framework Act

(PPPFA)

2.2

Queries

2.2.1

Should it be necessary for abidderto obtain clarity on any matter arising fromor referred to in this RFB document, please refer queries, in writing,and to thecontact person

email

address

number

listed below

on or before

(08 August

2013)

Under no circumstances may any other employee withinNHLS

be approached for any information. Any such action might result in adisqualification of a response submitted in competition to the RFB.

NHLS

reserves the right to place responses to such queries on the website.

COMMERCIAL QUERIES:

Procurement:M Gerard

Telephone

011

386 6165

E-mail

michelle.gerard@nhls.ac.za

Fax

011

386 6218

TECHNICAL QUERIES:

Telephone

011

3866165

E-mail

michelle.gerard@nhls.ac.za

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3

Definitions

3.1

National Health Laboratory Services

[hereinafter referred to asNHLS] is

apublic health laboratory service with laboratories across South Africa. Itsactivities comprise diagnostic laboratory services, research, teaching andtraining, and production of sera for anti-snake venom, reagents and media

3.2

NHLS

was established in 2001

by an Act of Parliament to provide diagnosticpathology laboratory services to the National and Provincial Health Department.

3.3

“Acceptable Bid”

-

means any bid, which, in all respects, complies with thespecifications and conditions of theRFB

Means the price after the factors of a non-firm priceand all unconditional discounts that can be utilized have been taken intoconsideration.

3.11

“Consortium”

-

means several entities joining

forcesas

an umbrella

entity

togain a strategic collaborative advantage

by combining their expertise, capital,efforts, skills and knowledge for the purpose of executing this tender.

3.12

“ContractorAgent”-

means any person mandated by aPrime Contractor

orconsortium/joint venture to do business for and on behalf of, or to represent ina business transaction, thePrime Contractor

and thereby acquire rights for thePrime Contractor

or consortium/joint venture againstNHLS

or an organ of stateand incur obligations binding thePrime Contractor

or consortium/joint venturein favour ofNHLS

or an organ of state.

3.13

“Disability”

-

means, in respect of a person, a permanent impairment of aphysical, intellectual, or sensory function, which results

in restricted,or lack of,

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ability to perform an activity in the manner, or within the range, considerednormal for a human being.

3.14

“Firm Price”

-

means the price that is only subject to adjustments inaccordance with the actual increase or decrease resulting from the change,imposition or abolition of customs or excise duty and any other duty, levy ortax which, in terms of a law or regulation is binding on the contractor anddemonstrably has influence on the price of any supplies or the rendering cost ofany service, for the execution of a contract.

Who, due to the apartheid policy that had been in place, had no franchise innational elections prior to the introduction of the Constitution of the Republicof South Africa, 1983, (Act No. 110 of 1983)or the Constitution of theRepublic of South Africa, 1993 (Act No. 200 of 1993) (the InterimConstitution); and/or;

3.16.2

who is a female; and/or;

3.16.3

who has a disability;

3.16.4

provided that a person who obtained South African citizenship on or after thecoming to effect of the Interim Constitution is deemed not to be an HDI.

3.17

“Joint Venture”

-

(Project) means two or more businesses joining togetherunder a contractual agreement to conduct a specific business enterprise withboth parties sharing profit and losses. The

venture is for one specific projectonly, rather than for a continuing business relationship as in a strategicalliance. It is about sharing risk with others and providing one or more missingand needed assets and competencies.

3.18

“Management”

-

in relation

to an enterprise or business, means an activityinclusive of control, and performed on a daily basis, by any person who is aprincipal executive officer of the company, by whatever name that person maybe designated, and whether or not that person is a director.

3.19

“Non-firm Price(s)”-

means all price(s) other than “firm” price(s).

3.20

“Organ of State”

-

means a National Department or Provincial Administrationas stipulated in Schedules 1 and 2 of the Public Service Act, Act 93 of 1994 (asamended).

3.21

“Person(s)”

-

refers to a natural and/or juristic person(s).

3.22

“PrimeContractor”

–

means any person (natural or juristic) who forwards anacceptable proposal in response to this RFB with the intention of being the maincontractor should the proposal be awarded to him/her.

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3.23

“Rand Value”

-

means the total estimated value of a contract inSouth Africancurrency,

calculated at the time of invitations and includes all applicable taxesand excise duties.

3.24

“SMME”

–

bears the same meaning assigned to this expression in the NationalSmall Business Act, 1996 (Act No. 102 of 1996).

3.25

“Sub-contract”

means the primary contractor’s assigning, leasing, making outwork to, or employing, another person to support such primary contractor inthe execution of part of a project in terms of the contract.

3.26

“Subcontractor”

-

meansany person (natural or juristic) who issubcontracted

a portion of an existing contract by aPrime Contractor.

3.27

“SuccessfulBidder”

-

means the organization or person with whom the orderis placedand

who is contracted to execute the work as detailed in the bid.

4

Acronyms and abbreviations

4.1

The following acronyms and abbreviations are used in this proposal and mustbe similarly used in the proposal submitted in response and shall have themeaning ascribed thereto below.

Abbreviations/Acronyms

Description

BBBEE

Broad Based

Black Economic Empowerment.

CPI

Consumer Price Index.

DIR

Directorate

EDMS

Electronic Document Management System

HDI

Historically Disadvantaged Individuals

ISO

International Standard Organization

IT

Information Technology

ITC

Information Technology Committee

MISS

Minimum Information Security Standard

OEM

Original Equipment Manufacturer

PPPFA

Preferential Procurement Policy FrameworkAct

RFB

Request for Bid

RSA

Republic of South Africa

NHLS

National Health LaboratoryServices

SLA

Service Level Agreement

SW

Software

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5

General rules and instructions

5.1

Confidentiality

5.1.1

The information contained in this document is of a confidential nature, andmust only be used for purposes of responding to this RFB. Thisconfidentiality clause extends toBidderpartners and/or implementationagents, whomthe Bidder

may decide to involve

in preparing a response tothis RFB.

5.1.2

For purposes of this process, the term “Confidential Information” shallinclude all technical and business information, including, without limiting thegenerality of the foregoing, all secret knowledge and information (includingany and all financial, commercial, market, technical, functional and scientificinformation, and information relating to a party’s strategic objectives andplanning and its past, present and future research and development),technical, functional and scientific requirements and specifications, dataconcerning business relationships, demonstrations, processes, machinery,know-how, architectural information, information contained in a party’ssoftware and associated material and documentation, plans, designs anddrawings and all material of whatever description, whether subject to orprotected by copyright, patent or trademark, registered or un-registered, orotherwise disclosed or communicated before or after the date of this process.

5.1.3

The receiving party shall not, during the period of validity of this process, orat any time thereafter, use or disclose, directly or indirectly, the confidentialinformation ofNHLS

(even if received before the date of this process) to anyperson whether in the employment of the receiving party or not, who doesnot take part in the performance of this process.

5.1.4

The receiving party shall take all such steps as may be reasonablynecessaryto preventNHLS’s confidential information coming into the possession ofunauthorised third parties. In protecting the receiving party’s confidentialinformation,NHLS

shall use the same degree of care,which does not amountto

less than a reasonable degree of care, to prevent the unauthorised use ordisclosure of the confidential information as the receiving party uses toprotect its own confidential information.

5.1.5

Any documentation, software or records relating to confidential informationofNHLS, which comes into the possession of the receiving party during theperiod of validity of this process or at any time thereafter or which has socome into its possession before the period of validity of this process:

5.1.5.1

shall be deemed to form part of the confidential information ofNHLS;

5.1.5.2

shall be deemed to be the property ofNHLS;

5.1.5.3

shall not be copied, reproduced, published or circulated by the receivingparty unless and to the extent that such copying is necessary for the

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performance of this process and all other processes as contemplated in;and

5.1.5.4

shall be surrendered toNHLS

on demand, and in any event on thetermination of the investigations and negotiations, and the receiving partyshall not retain any extracts.

5.2

News andpress releases

5.2.1

Biddersor their agents shall not make any news releases concerning thisRFB or the awarding of the same or any resulting agreement(s) without theconsent of, and then only in co-ordination with,

NHLS

and its Client.

5.3

Precedence ofdocuments

5.3.1

This RFB consists of a number of sections (see list). Where there is acontradiction in terms between the clauses, phrases, words, stipulations orterms and herein referred to generally as stipulations in this RFB and thestipulations in any other document attached hereto, or the RFB submittedhereto, the relevant stipulations in this RFB shall take precedence.

5.3.2

Where this RFB is silent on any matter, the relevant stipulations addressingsuch matter and which appear in

the PPPFA shall take precedence.Bidders

shall refrain from incorporating any additional stipulations in its proposalsubmitted in terms hereof other than in the form of a clearly markedrecommendation thatNHLS

may in its sole discretion elect to importor toignore. Any such inclusion shall not be used for any purpose of interpretationunless it has been so imported or acknowledged byNHLS.

5.3.3

It is acknowledged that all stipulations in the PPPFA are not equallyapplicable to all matters addressed inthis RFB. It however remains theexclusive domain and election ofNHLS

as to which of these stipulations areapplicable and to what extent.Bidders

are hereby acknowledging that thedecision ofNHLS

in this regard is final and binding. The onus to enquireandobtain clarity in this regard rests with theBidder(s). TheBidder(s) shall takecare to restrict its enquiries in this regard to the most reasonableinterpretations required to ensure the necessary consensus.

5.4

Preferential Procurement Reform

5.4.1

NHLS

supportsB-BBEE

as an essential ingredient of its business. Inaccordance with government policy,NHLS

insists that the private sectordemonstrates its commitment and track record to

apply the principles of the Preferential Procurement PolicyFramework Act, (Act No. 5 of 2000) to this proposal.

5.4.3

Bidders

shall complete the preference certificate attached to this proposal. Inthe case of a consortium

and sub contractors, the preference certificate mustbe completed for each legal entity.

5.5

National Industrial Participation Programme

5.5.1

The Industrial Participation

policy, which was endorsed by Cabinet on 30April 1997, is applicable to contracts that have an imported content. The NIPis obligatory and therefore must be complied with. Bidders are required tosign and submit the Standard Bidding Document(SBD5).

5.6

Language

5.6.1

Bids shall be submitted in English.

5.7

Gender

5.7.1

Any word implying any gender shall be interpreted to imply all othergenders.

5.8

Headings

5.8.1

Headings are incorporated into this proposal and submitted in responsethereto, forease of reference only and shall not form part thereof for anypurpose of interpretation or for any other purpose.

5.9

Securityclearances

5.9.1

Employees andsubcontractors of thesuccessful bidder

may be required tobe in possession of valid security clearances to the level determined bytheState Security Agency (SSA)

and/orNHLS

commensurate with the nature ofthe project activities they are involved in. The cost of obtaining suitableclearances is for the account of thebidders. Thebidders

shall supply andmaintain a list of personnel involved on the project indicating their clearancestatus.

5.9.1

Employees and subcontractorsof the successful bidderwill be required tosign a non-disclosure agreement.

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5.10

Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act 13 of 1993

5.10.1

The Bidder warrants that all its employees (including the employees of anysub-contractor that may be appointed) are covered in terms of theCompensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act 13 of 1993

andthat the cover shall remain in force for the duration of the adjudication ofthis bid and/ or subsequent agreement.NHLS

reserves the right to requestthe Bidder to submit documentary proof of the Bidder’s registration and“good standing” with the Compensation Fund, or similar proof acceptable toNHLS.

5.11

Formal contract

5.11.1

This RFB, all the appended documentation and the proposal in responsethereto read together, form

the basis for a formal contract to be negotiatedand finalised betweenNHLS

submit Bids in response to this RFB may be required to give an oralpresentation, which may include,

but

is

not limited to,

an equipment/servicedemonstration of their proposal toNHLS. This provides an opportunity for thevendor to clarify or elaborate on the proposal. This is a fact finding and explanationsession only and does not include negotiation.NHLS

shall

schedule the time andlocation of these presentations. Oral presentations are an option ofNHLS

This bid is subject to the General Conditions of Contractstipulated in this document.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.2

The laws of the Republic of South Africa shall govern this RFBand the bidders hereby accept that the courts of the Republic ofSouth Africa shall have the jurisdiction.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.3

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NHLS

shall not be liable for any costs incurred by the bidder inthe preparation of response to this RFB. The preparation ofresponse shall be made without obligation to acquire any of theitems included in any bidder’s proposal or to select anyproposal, or to discuss the reasons why such vendor’s or anyother proposal was accepted or rejected.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.4

NHLS

Procurement Services may request written clarificationregarding any aspect of this proposal. The bidders must supplythe requested information in writing within the specified timeframes after the request has been made, otherwise theproposal shall be disqualified.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.5

In the case of Consortium, Joint Venture or subcontractors,bidders are required to provide copies of signed agreementsstipulating the work split and Rand value.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.6

In the caseof Consortium, Joint Venture or subcontractors, allbidders are required to provide mandatory documents asstipulated in schedule 1 of the Response format.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.7

NHLS

reserves the right to; cancel or reject any proposal andnot to award the proposal to the lowest bidder or award parts ofthe proposal to different bidders, or not to award the proposalat all.

By submitting a proposal inresponse to this RFB, the biddersaccept the evaluation criteria as it stands.

Accept

Do not Accept

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11.1.10

Where applicable,NHLS

reserves the right to conductbenchmarks on product/services offered during and after theevaluation.

Accept

Do notAccept

11.1.11

NHLS

reserves the right to conduct a pre-award survey duringthe source selection process to evaluate contractors' capabilitiesto meet the requirements specified in the RFB and supportingdocuments.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.12

Where the bid calls for commercially available solutions, bidderswho offer to provide future based solutions will be disqualified.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.13

The bidder should not qualify the proposal with own conditions.

Caution:

If the bidder does not specifically withdraw its ownconditions of proposal when called upon to do so, the proposalresponse shall be declared invalid.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.14

Should the bidder withdraw the proposal before the proposalvalidity period expires,NHLS

reserves the right to recover anyadditional expense incurred byNHLS

having to accept any lessfavourable proposal or the additional expenditure incurred byNHLS

inthe preparation of a new RFB and by the subsequentacceptance of any less favourable proposal.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.15

Delivery of and acceptance of correspondence betweenNHLS

and the bidder sent by prepaid registered post (by air mail ifappropriate) in a correctly addressed envelope to either party’spostal=address=or=address=for=service=of=legal=documents=shall=be=deemed=to=have=been=received=and=accepted=after=EOF=two=Accept

Do not Accept

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daysfrom the date of postage to the South African Post OfficeLtd.

11.1.16

Should the parties at any time before and/or after the award ofthe proposal and prior to, and-or after conclusion of thecontract fail to agree on any significant product price or serviceprice adjustments, change in technical specification, change inservices, etc.NHLS

shall be entitled within 14 (fourteen) daysof such failure to agree, to recall the letter of award and cancelthe proposal by giving the bidder not less than 90 (ninety) dayswritten notice of such cancellation, in which event all fees on

which the parties failed to agree increases or decreases shall,for the duration of such notice period, remain fixed on thosefee/price applicable prior to the negotiations.

Such cancellation shall mean thatNHLS

reserves the right toaward the same proposal to next best bidders as it deems fit.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.17

In the case of a consortium or JV, each of the authorisedenterprise’s members and/or partners of the differententerprises=must=捯-sign=t his=doc ument.=Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.18

Any amendment or change of any nature made to this RFB shallonly be of force and effect if it is in writing, signed byNHLS

signatory and added to this RFB as an addendum.

Accept

Do not Accept

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11.1.19

Failure or neglect by either party to (at any time) enforce anyof the provisions of this proposal shall not, in any manner, beconstrued to be a waiver of any of that party’s right in thatregard= and= in= terms= of= this= proposal.= puch=failure=or=neglect=shall= notI= in= any= mannerI= affect= the= continuedI= unaltered=validity=of=this=proposalI=or=prejudice=the=right=of=that=party=to=institute=subsequent=action.=Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.20

Bidders who make use of subcontractors.

The proposal shall however be awarded to the Vendor asa primary contractor who shall be responsible for themanagement of the awarded proposal. No separatecontract shall be entered into betweenNHLS

and/or itsclient

and any such subcontractors. Copies of the signedagreements between the relevant parties must beattached to the proposal responses.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.21

All services supplied in accordance with this proposal must becertified to all legal requirements as per the South Africanlaw.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.22

No interest shall be payable on accounts due to the successfulvendor in an event of a dispute arising on any stipulation in thecontract.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.23

Evaluation of Bids shall be performed by a

CFET

established byNHLS.

Bids shall be evaluated on the basis of conformance to therequired specifications as outlined in the RFB. Points shall beallocated to each bidder, on the basis that the maximumnumber of points that may be scored for price is80/90, and themaximum number of preference points that may be claimed for

B-BBEE (according to the PPPFA) is20/10.

Accept

Do not Accept

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11.1.24

Prior to the award of any tender or contract the NHLS will checkthe Prohibition status of recommendedsuppliers/ serviceproviders on the Treasury website (restricted@treasury.gov.za

)

as well as the Treasury Register for Tender Defaulters(www.treasury.gov.za

)

Accept

Do not Accept

11.25

The NHLS will act against the bidder or person awarded thecontract upon detecting that the B-BBEE status level ofcontribution has been claimed or obtained on a fraudulent basisor any of the contract conditions have notbeen fulfilled.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.26

The NHLS may, in addition to any other remedy that itmay have against the bidder or person:



Disqualify the bidder or person from the biddingprocess;



Recover all costs, losses or damages it hasincurred or

suffered as a result of that person’sconduct



Cancel the contract and claim any damageswhich it has suffered as a result of having tomake less favourable arrangements due to suchcancellation;



Restrict the bidder or contractor, its shareholdersand directors, or only the shareholders anddirectors who acted on a fraudulent basis, fromobtaining business from any organ of state for aperiod not exceeding 10 years, after applying theaudi alteram partem (hear the other side) rule;



Forward the matter forBlacklisting by Treasury;and



Forward the matter for criminal prosecution

Accept

Do not Accept

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11.1.27

If the successful bidder disregards contractual specifications,this action may result in the termination of the contract.

has discretion to extend the validity period should theevaluation of this bid not be completed within the stipulatedvalidity period.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.30

Upon receipt of the request to extend the validity period of thebid, the bidder must

respond within the required time framesand in writing on whether or not he agrees to hold his originalbid response valid under the same terms and conditions for afurther period.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.31

Should the bidder change any

wording or phrase in thisdocument, the bid shall be evaluated as though no change hasbeen effected and the original wording or phrasing shall beused.

Accept

Do not Accept

11.1.32

Should the bidder change any wording or phrase in thisdocument,the bid shall be evaluated as though no change hasbeen effected and the original wording or phrasing shall beused.

Accept

Do not Accept

12

Evaluation Criteria and Methodology

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12.1

Evaluation of tenders and selection of contractors/serviceproviders

The NHLS is a Schedule 3A Government Institution subjected to the Public FinanceManagement Act (PFMA), the Public Preferential Framework Act (PPPFA) and TreasuryRegulations/ Instructions.Bidders must assist the NHLS to eliminate corruption andfraud by completing and submitting formSBD4.

12.1.1.

Any tender closing is followed by a Public Opening where the names and pricing of all

bids received are read out to the biddersattending. NHLS tender opening officials sign thepages where pricing is indicated to prevent any alterations.

12.1.2 Administrative evaluation

is then done by NHLS Procurement Services and bidderswhom failed to submit the Mandatory documents inparagraph ....shall be disqualified.

12.1.3Next step of evaluation is the “technical” or so called “functional” evaluation which ispurely based on NHLS specifications (Annexure 2) and Scope ofWork. NHLS end-userdepartment(who requested the bid

), Procurement Services, Finance and subject specialistsare part of the Cross Functional Evaluation Team( CFET ) meeting which is chaired by QualityAssurance( QA ).All the members of the CFET must complete Declaration of Interest forms andmust recusethemselves in case of any conflict of interest.

12.1.4 The

final stage of evaluation is done after the CFET has reached their verdict and isdone by NHLS Procurement Services and separately from the CFET meeting. Price and B-BBEE score (commercial evaluation) are being added in order to get the final order of merit forthe bidders being evaluated.

12.1.5bidders

that score the minimum thresholdare recommended and submitted to the NHLSTender Evaluation Committee( TAC ) for adjudication and the bid MUST be awarded to thebidder who scored the highest points( Merit 1 ) during the CFET and Commercial evaluation(price and B-BBEE ).

All the members of the CFET must complete Declaration of Interest formsand must recuse themselves in case of any conflict of

interest.Should the TAC decide on abidder other than Merit 1, this decision must be motivated as a Deviation from NHLSPolicy & procedure and Treasury must be advised accordingly.

12.1.6The CEO of the NHLS must finally approve the recommendation by the TAC, in hiscapacity as the Accounting Officer.

12.1.7Details of the successful bidder to be advertised in the Government Tender Bulletin.

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12.2.

Administrative Compliance

The following will be used to evaluate bids administratively:



Fully completedand signed SBD4



Submission of original and valid tax clearance



Audited financial statement not older than two years



SANAS accredited B-BBEE Certificate



The service providers

to have agree with NHLS general contract terms conditions

12.2.1

The evaluationof the Bids shall be based on the 90/10 PPPFA principle and the pointsfor evaluation criteria are as follows:

Price points

80/90

B-BBEE

status level contribution

20/10

Total

100 points

12.2.2

All Bids receivedshall

be evaluated by a panel using the preference points system asstipulated in the Preferential Procurement Regulations.

12.2.3

The bids will be evaluated first based on mandatory requirements and then nonmandatory requirements.

The respondent must submit, bycompleting “Implementation Plan” of part theTender, adetailed timetable showing all important tasks in variousstages of Software installation. The submitted timetablemust comply with the Completion Dates.

The Respondentshould spell out explicitly any costs required for deliveryand/or installation in the “Tender Price”.

ExceptionsMonitoring

The Software shall monitor any handled or unhandledexceptions/errors and produce error stack trace

Section E

15%

Support largevolume ofmetrics storage

The Software shall support large volume metricsstoragefor at least 600,000 concurrent metrics in less than1.3TB. For resolution = 15 seconds, the repository shallable to keep 3 months of metrics data and for resolution= 15 minutes, the repository shall able to keep 5 years ofmetrics data

Section

F

15%

OtherRequirements

Large scale environment support:

The Software shallsupport to monitor large scale application environments(Number of JVM > 2500)

The Software must have the ability tocompute between different performances metrics tocreate new metrics, e.g.

displaying performance across aclustered environment

Section G

10%

Support andMaintenanceService

The successful respondent is expected to provide supportservices

on planning, implementation, fault diagnosis,consultation, provision of customer publication andupdating services and maintenance service on theSoftware. This must be in the form of an SLA. Freeversion upgrades must also be included as part of the

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support and maintenance services.

Section H

10%

Track record ofpreviousperformance

A proven project delivery track record and experience ofsimilar services with dates of provision for these servicesmust be indicated.

Section I

Training andValue-Adds:

Please outline the trainingprovided for the software/product/service for NHLS Staff

10%

TOTAL

100%

AllBidders

who scoreLESS than80%on

the above non mandatory requirementsshall notbe considered for further evaluation on Price and BEE

(If applicable).

12.4

Step 1:

Bidders who do not qualify with all the technical mandatory requirementswill notbe considered for further evaluation.

12.5

Step 2:Bidders who do notachieve the minimum score of 80% on Technical Non-Mandatory requirementswill not

be considered for further evaluation.

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Annex A :

Technical Specification

1

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS TO VENDORS

1.1

Should a vendor have reasons to believe that the Technical Specification is notopenand/or is written for

a particular brand or product; the vendor shall notifyProcurement Services within ten (10) days after publication of the bid.

1.2

Bidders shall provide full and accurate answers to the mandatory questions posed inthis document, and, where required explicitly state either “Comply/Not Comply”regarding compliance with the requirements. Biddersmust

substantiate theirresponse to all questions, including full details on how their proposal/solution willaddress specific functional requirements. All documents as indicated must besupplied as part of the submission.

1.3

Vendors are encouraged to promote the growth and development of SMME's, and willbe assessed on their efforts in this regard during the evaluation of this Tender.

2.

SCOPE OF WORK

2.1.

Background

The NHLS is the largest diagnostic pathology service in South Africa, serving80% of the country's population, and conductshealth-related researchappropriate to the broader population needs, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis,malaria, pneumococcal infections, occupational health, cancer and malnutrition.The NHLS forms a national network of integrated pathology laboratoriesthroughout the country that utilise common laboratory management systemsand transport networks to facilitate transport of specimens, referral of tests toreference laboratories and delivery of results. More than 200 laboratories areincluded in the NHLS, employing over 6,500 people. The activities comprisediagnostic laboratory services, research, teaching and training, and production ofsera for anti-snake venom, reagents and media. All laboratories providelaboratory diagnostic services to the national Department of Health, provincialhospitals, local authorities and medical practitioners

2.2.

The Scope of this RFB is:

NHLS require an Enterprise Monitoring Solution that will assure the performanceof the

NHLS IT environment. Network outages result in costly resolutionactivities and importantly, affect customer perception with internal and externalusers alike. NHLS would like to minimize this downtime and increase theirmeantime to repair (MTTR).

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When a device fault occurs, a solution is needed to gather information about thedevice and its neighbours at the time of the fault.

For the NHLS it is imperative to understand the reasons behind

the negativeperception of the client based environment and if end users are truly having abad experience logging in as well as making requests on the system. A solutionis required to identify, understand and remedy the root cause of the poor enduser experience being reported often by internal customers. Changes in theenvironment can be detected in near real-time with the affectingconfiguration/network/application changes identified.

The

NHLS is looking for ways to have visibility of transactions across theenvironment and

to increase the Performance and Availability of their Businesscritical services, speed, problem identification and resolution to be able to deliverquality services to their customers.

To archive this, the vendor must be able tosupply a system that can cover fiveobjectives/dimensions:

1: Tracking in real time, the execution of the software algorithms that constitutean application

2: Measuring and reporting on finite hardware and software resources that areallocated to beconsumed as the algorithms execute

To monitor these five objectives/ dimensions the following will be required:



End-user experience monitoring-

the capture of data about how end to endapplication availability, latency, execution correctness and quality appeared tothe end user.



Application runtime architecture discovery, modelling and display–

the discoveryof various software and hardware components involved in application execution,and the array of possible paths across which these components communicatethat, together, enable that involvement.



User-defined transaction profiling-

the tracing of events as they occur among thecomponents or objects as they move across the paths discovered

in thesecond/objectives dimension, generated in response to a user’s attempt to causethe application to execute what the user regards as a logical unit of work.

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

Application component deep-dive monitoring–

the fine-grained monitoring ofresources consumed by and events occurring within the components discoveredin the second objectives / dimension.



Application data analytics–

the marshalling of a variety of techniques (includingbehaviour learning engines, complex–

event processing (CEP) platforms andmultidimensional database analysis) to discover meaningful and actionablepatterns in the large datasets generated by the first four objectives/dimensions.

The NHLS will consider two options for the supply of an APM:

Option 1: Capital Expense

The solution will be provided as a capital expense (including hardware) to theNHLS, and will be inclusive of solution deployment and training of nominatedNHLS staff members.

Option 2: Monitoring as a Service

The model will enable complete monitoring within the NHLS through the Cloud,delivered

as a service with an associated monthly fee and no upfront cost, with acontractual commitment of one year.

This model will provide NHLS with complete access to all facets of monitoring asspecified in the scope of work this

document

2.3.

Current IT Environment

The NHLS IT environment consists of the following core applications / technologies:

Operating Systems for the above applications include Microsoft, Novell, UNIX andLinux and Citrix.



More applications are used but not listed.



WAN Diagram attached.

SPECIFICATION

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

Application

Performance

Management

Tools

are

Mandatory

Items

and

must

be quoted. Respondents should

note

they

have

Desirable

Requirements or

Features.

The

Software

offered

should

incorporate

the

following

components

/

requirements

/

features:Mandatory.

3.

IMPLEMENTATION TIME TABLE

The Software must be installed according to the Completion Dates as set out below.

Activity Description

Completion Date (counting from the date ofwritten orders):

Software delivery and installationDocumentation Delivery

Installation Tests

Acceptance Tests

Completion Date

Completion Date

Within 4 weeks

Within 4 weeks

Within 4 weeks

Within 4 weeks

Within 8 weeks

4.

DELIVERY INSTALLATION

4.1

The proposed Software must be delivered and installed as set out in “ImplementationPlan”

4.2

The respondent must submit, by completing “Implementation Plan” of part this RFQ,a detailed timetable showing all important tasks in various stages of Softwareinstallation. The submitted timetable must comply with the Completion Dates

4.3

The successful Respondent must observe the following during installation

4.4

The Respondent should spell outexplicitly any costs required for deliveryand/or installation

in the “RFQ Price”

5.

DEMONSTRATION

5.1

During the proposal evaluation stage, the respondent may berequired todemonstrate the viability of the proposed Systems with respect to the capabilitiesand features specified in this RFQ and the claimed compatibility with the existingauthority hardware and software

5.2

The demonstration will be set up by the respondent’s own resource and at its ownexpenses and where applicable, using the authority’s test cases and data

5.3

The respondent may be required to work outside normal office hours during thedemonstration period

5.4

The respondent shall be responsible for any lossor damage to the data, programs,media or related items released by the Authority to the respondent for use in thedemonstration

5.5

The Authority shall have access to all programs and data used in and output from thedemonstration

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5.6

If the respondent is selected to perform demonstration of the proposed Systems, therespondent will be informed of the date and the details of the demonstration no lessthan 2 calendar weeks in advance of the demonstration. It shall then conduct andcomplete the demonstration within

the period specified by the Authority

5.7

If the respondent fails to demonstrate the mandatory requirements or fails tocomplete the demonstration within the period specified by the Authority, its RFQ willbe disqualified

6.

ACCEPTANCE TESTING

6.1

The successful respondent must deliver all the proposed Software and completesuccessfully the acceptance testing in accordance with the provision of the contract

7.

Support and Maintenance Services

7.1

The

successfulrespondent is expected to provide support services onplanning,implementation, fault diagnosis, consultation, provision of customer publication andupdating services and maintenance service on the Software. This must be in the formof an SLA. Free version upgrades must also be included as part of the support andmaintenance services

7.2

Support Services

a.

Schedules showing the level of services, both local and/or overseas, that will beoffered for each and every item of Software;

b.

Level of free support services provided for the implementation, fault diagnosisand facilitation of smooth operation of the proposed Software;

c.

Charges for the provision of services in addition to those mentioned in (b)above;

d.

Level of local and/or overseas expertise on fault diagnosis of the Software;

e.

Committed response time to rectify software errors;

f.

Facilities required for any remote software maintenance services;

g.

other support services information;

7.3

.Software Upgrade and Maintenance

a.

Estimation of manpower and description of tasks required from the Authority forthe softwareinstallation, maintenance and upgrades;

b.

Updating and enhancement mechanism;

c.

Update frequency and format;

7.4

Delivery and installation arrangement would be further agreed between therespondent and the Authority.

7.5

The respondent should spell out explicitly any

costs required for delivery and/orinstallation.

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8.

Expectation of Supplier

8.1

Track record of previous performance

A proven project delivery track record and experience of similar services with datesof provision for these services must be indicated

8.2

References

The Supplier must indicate if they have previously provided any services to theNHLS. A list of other similar and reference able projects that the supplier has recentlydelivered with the resources that have been put forward must be supplied

8.3

Work Location

Work will be carried out at the main offices at:

1 Modderfontein Road

Sandringham

Edenvale

Or at the Braamfontein Offices:

Cnr De Korte & Hospital Street

Braamfontein

Johannesburg

There may be an expectation to travel to Regions for meetings or training

8.4

Methodologies, Standards and Procedures

During the delivery of services to the NHLS, the vendor must adhere to all the NHLSStandard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) and make recommendations forimprovement.

The consultant must ensure all relevant information is published in theNHLS Project Library

8.5

Quality Management

There should be a continuous drive to meet and exceed the quality expectations ofthe NHLS. It is expected that the Supplier comply with Quality ManagementStandards. This approach

needs to be integrated with the NHLS SOP’s, Policies andStandards. All deliverables must have a quality element associated with it, whichmay take on the form of service levels

9.

MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS

o

If a bidder does not comply fully with each of the mandatoryrequirements, it shall be regarded as mandatory non-performance/non-compliance and the bid SHALL be disqualified.No“unanswered”questions will be allowed. If a response to a question

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has been indicated as comply but not elaborated upon orsubstantiated

it shall be regarded as mandatory non-performance/non-compliance and the bid shall be disqualified.

o

Biddersshall provide full and accurate answers to the mandatoryquestions posed in this document, and, where required, explicitlystate either "Comply/Accept (with a “Yes”)" or "Do not comply/donot accept (with a “No”)" regarding compliance to the requirements.Biddersmust substantiate their responses to all mandatoryquestions.

o

PLEASE NOTE: If the response does not substantiate any of the pointsor requirements in the body of the tender, it will be deemed to notcomply, even if the ‘Comply’ field has been marked.

o

Costs for evaluation studies in each laboratory will be paid by thesupplier

o

DirectMaterial: cost ration of not more than 10%

o

Please note: All documentation to substantiate the mandatoryrequirements have to be supplied.

o

Every mandatory questions must be accompanied with explanation inthe space provided.